PREFACE 



The Trustees of the Australian Muscuiu, in the year 1888, having determined that in the interests of entomological science, the 

 important mass of inl'orniation regarding the transformations of one of the most noticeable and beautiful orders of insects 

 — the result of years of patient observation and labour— sliould be made known with as little delay as possible, decided that the 

 valuable manuscripts and drawings relating to tlie life-histories of our native butterflies and moths, which they acquired by 

 purchase in 1884 from the Executors of the late Alexander Walker Scott, should be made available to students of Entomology and 

 the public. In pursuance of this decision they determined that the mauuserii)ts and the drawings should l)e published ; and at a 

 meeting held on the 4th December, 1888, they decided that the i)ublication should take the form of a continuation of the work of 

 which three parts were issued by Mr. Scott, in 1801, under the title Aiistnilimi Lcjiuliijili'ra mul their I'liiiisfoniiiiliDiiH. The task 

 of editing and revising the manuscripts was entrusted to us as co-editors, and the entomological notes and descriptions left by 

 Mr. Scott, comprised in six note-books, and a large collection of drawings, were placed in our hands. 



The manuscripts contain a series of observations, commencing m 1888 and ending in 18(54, made principally in the 

 neighbourhood of Sydney and in the Lower Hunter district, on many hundreds of Lei)idoptera ; and when it is borne in nnnd that 

 nothing had been done towards elucidating the life-liistories of the Australian Lepidoptera since 1805, when -John William Lewin 

 published his Xalunil nistorii of LepUloptcroiis Insects of New South Wales, it is obvious that many of the insects described and named 

 by Mr. Scott were new to science. The large additions made, during the last quarter of a century, to entomological literature, 

 and the great amount of work accomplished during the same period by systematic naturalists, have necessarily brought about great 

 changes in the nomenclature and classification of species ; and we have therefore found it necessary, in revising the manuscripts, to 

 substitute the nomenclature employed by recent writers, and to omit all those passages which relate to questions of classilication 

 or the limits of genera as then constituted. Indeed it may be said once for all, that the editors are entirely responsible for the 

 nomenclature adopted in this continuation of Mr. Scott's work, and also for the bibliographical references at the head of each 

 d'escri]ition. Wherever it seemed to us desirable, in order to avoid confusion, we have endeavoured to bring the terminology into 

 conformity with modern iisage ; and wherever we are able to add anything to the life-histories of the species described in the work, 

 from our own knowledge or from other sources, we have done so, distinguishing our remarks from those of the author by enclosing 

 them \\itlnn brackets C ], or appending our resi)ective initials. With these exceptions we have closely followed the text of the 

 original manuscripts, making only such verbal alterations as appeared to us necessary. 



Plates X. to XXI., used in the present work, were lithogra])hcd and printed in Sydney, j)revious to 18()4, with a view to the 

 continuous issue of the work, which will account for discrei)ancies between names used on the plates and those ado[)ted in the text. 

 As the Trustees of the Australian Museum felt bound to utilize these plates, which had been executed at considerable expense and 

 had the advantage of being the work of the original artists, this discrepancy could not be avoided ; but no inconvenience will arise 

 on this account, as in every instance an explanation is given, not only in the text, but also on the explanation facing each plate. 



Finally it is hoped that readers will bear in mind the difficulties which always attend a posthumous jjublication, enhanced 

 in this case, by the long interval of time which elapsed before the manuscripts became the property of the Australian Museum, an 

 interval moreover (1864-1884) singularly barren in workers in this particular field. Those early workers who, like -John Abbot in 

 Georgia, Johann Christian Sepp in Surinam, General Hardwicke in India, and Tliomas Horsfield in Java, turned their attention to 

 the laborious pursuit of insect biology, deserve some gratitude from those who come after them, and we feel sure that in this 

 connection the name of Alexander Walker Scott will be honourably remembered. 



A. SIDNEY OLLlFt\ 



Sydney : Januaey 1st, 1890. HELENA FORDE. 



